


The Archivists

by WitchyBee



Category: Archive 81 (Podcast), The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Crossover, Gen, I Tried
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 05:06:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18866314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WitchyBee/pseuds/WitchyBee
Summary: "Statement of Daniel Powell regarding...?”“Uh, well, a lot. I guess it all started with Archive 81.”





	The Archivists

“Does it, um, have to be on tape?” the statement giver asks, anxious. He looks like he wants to run out of the room.

“I’m afraid so,” Jon confirms. “Unless you would prefer to write it down. I can record an audio version later.”

“No, no, i-it’s okay. I didn’t expect– I mean, Lou just said I should come here if I was ever in London. I’m pretty sure he meant it as a joke, but...I guess I need to talk about it. So, sure. One more tape.”

“Right. Statement of Daniel Powell regarding...?”

“Uh, well, a lot. I guess it all started with Archive 81.”

“Recorded direct from subject. Statement begins.”

 

* * *

 

 

It’s... well, unbelievable isn’t the right word. There’s not much he cannot believe anymore. It’s just overwhelming.

The tape recorder clicks off by itself after the statement ends. Dan gives him an odd look, sad and pitying.

“It’s not worth it,” he says. “You take a job in a creepy archive and you just end up losing...everything. Everyone. You really should quit.”

Jon has to admit the parallels are striking. Cults, rituals, a poorly organized archive filled with horrors. He’s so tired of losing things.

“I know,” he says. “But I can’t quit, even if I wanted to.”

“Do you? Want to?” Dan asks. He looks at Jon’s scars, at the burn mark on his hand, not even attempting to be subtle about it.

“I’m…not sure. This is important.” He is the Archivist. Jon needs to know, always has. Besides, someone’s got to try to save the world, apparently.

“Yeah,” Dan sighs. “I thought so too. Just, um, don’t let this stuff change who you are. It can take you to a dark place if you're not careful. And if you do ever get the chance to walk away, you should seriously take it.”

It’s too late for that, Jon thinks. He’s less human every day, increasingly bound to a patron and a destiny he still barely understands.

By the time the American leaves his office, Jon’s exhausted and his head is throbbing. He hasn’t felt so worn down like this in quite a while; statements are supposed to revitalize him now, aren’t they? Feeding the Eye and all.

Daniel Powell had been feeding the Eye in some way as well, from the sound of it. Listening to people suffer. Beholding. And then the tape recorder had become part of him, fused with his flesh.

God, he needs a cigarette.

Some of the pieces fit together with everything he knows, but honestly he’s not even sure this is all part of the same puzzle. There could be many entities involved, even other avatars. There are rituals, yes, but they seem...different. Smaller scale, maybe less powerful, yet more precise. And if this other dimension really exists...

Well, Jon doesn’t know what any of it means. Except, of course, a cold certainty that the world is infinitely larger and more frightening than it already was.

He sincerely hopes that Dan is able to go home to New York and start rebuilding his life, never again encountering the supernatural. But he doubts it. There must be a reason the same handful of names crop up in statements over and over again, a reason why some people are drawn in like cultists to a flame. Fear. Curiosity. Once you have been marked, either as a victim or an agent, there is no escape from it, not forever. The End will claim you eventually, if nothing else.

It could be worse, Jon supposes. At least he’s never been some kind of tape cyborg.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr @podcastenthusiast.


End file.
